Not Quite a New Servant
by Trust-Me-I'm-a-Fangirl-96422
Summary: Finny would never claim to be brave in any sense, but that new scarecrow that's appeared in the garden is just a bit... creepy. (Finny one-shot, no pairings, no warnings)


Every servant of the Phantomhive estate had their own station. And every servant knew that their station was generally a place where they could be alone and peaceful with their assigned tasks. The butler Sebastian had free choice to roam and check on the completion of these responsibilities, but he had no right to linger or shadow the others, so for the most part, no one could bother the earl's pawns as they worked.

Which is why Finny was rather distraught upon wandering outside to find a tall, ominous, and frankly terrifying stranger looming over the flower patch he'd just planted the day before.

"Mister Sebastian!" the loud echoes of the gardener's boots reached Sebastian's ears only seconds before the boy crashed directly into him. Sebastian gave an angry sigh that he tried to pass off as annoyed as he gazed down at Finny.

"What's the matter, Finnian? Having trouble reading the pesticide labels again?" the demon butler slipped his arms down in between his own body and Finny's, prying the gardener's slender but abnormally strong form away and holding him out at arm's length.

Finny shook his head frantically, Sebastian's taunt going right over the top of his blond hair, as his mind was fixed on seemingly more important issues.

"Th-there's a man outside! He's real big and creepy and he's in the garden and he won't move and I was scared to get close to him so I just came inside right away and-" he managed to get that much out before Sebastian tapped him harshly in the chest, the butler shaking his head to cut the boy off.

"Breathe, Finny," he advised, watching the inept gardener try to catch his panicked breath for a moment before the demon continued, "now, a man in the garden, you said? Was he, by any chance, in the middle of all those roses you planted yesterday?"

"Yeah, he was, and—"

Sebastian raised his hand impatiently to keep Finny from going on another rant. Once the gardener had accepted his role of being the one not causing a disruption, Sebastian spoke once again. "That was a scarecrow, Finny. The young master noticed a flock of crows plucking all the seeds from the ground when you were attending to different portions of the garden, so he ordered me to put a stop to it. I figured the only long-term solution to that problem would be to set up a diversion to keep those birds away and let the flowers go ahead and bloom. Understand?"

Sebastian could see the tiny gears in Finny's head trying to work around his words. There was a long pause where the only look Finny could manage was a puzzled one, but then he finally smiled. "Ohhh, you don't want the birdies to eat the flowers, so you put up a… Crow-scarer to make them go away?"

"Precisely," Sebastian sighed, glad that at least a portion of his explanation had made its way into the boy's brain. "So, do you see? There's no reason to be afraid of it. It's just straw and some clothes. You may go about your duties as usual."

"Right!" Finny stood up tall and pressed his right hand to his brow in a formal salute, before he gave a cheerful laugh and ran back outside to attend to his gardening duties, leaving Sebastian to frown after him.

"Good grief," the demon butler finally sighed and also left the hallway to do his own job; serving Ciel.

* * *

><p>Even with Sebastian's assurance that the scarecrow wasn't anything to fear unless you were a bird trying to snatch a snack, Finny was still weary of the large doll. Upon closer inspection that he hadn't had the courage to do the first time he'd come in contact with the scarecrow, Finny could see that although it resembled a human from afar, straw stuck out from oddly sewn places and the dull, brown button eyes were anything but life-like. Not to mention that the eyes were the only facial features the doll had; there was no nose or mouth to set any kind of expression with.<p>

"Hello, I'm Finnian," Finny found the words silly as soon as he spoke them; he _was_ speaking to nothing more than a lifeless toy, but he went on anyway. "But my friends call me Finny. It's a nickname." A pause. "Do you have a name?" The words 'what am I even doing' vaguely flashed through the back of his mind, but he giggled it off. "No? Aw, okay, we'll call you… Adalric. It means noble friend in German!"

Adalric stared blankly down at Finny, his disheveled stringy hair waving in the wind. Finny cleared his throat awkwardly and looked around, making sure no one had seen his childish display before smiling again and getting back to his work.

* * *

><p>Sebastian wasn't one to care much about human behaviour, but he had to admit it was something that peaked his curiosity once in a while. Talking to a scarecrow? What could the gardener possibly gain from something like that? Hadn't Sebastian just told Finny that the thing wasn't living?<p>

But the demon butler decided to leave the situation alone. If Finny wanted to pretend 'Adalric' was just another person serving Ciel, then so be it. However, a week later, Sebastian once again began to question the gardener's choices when he found a sloppily painted smile across the scarecrow's stitched face. A smile so sloppy and innocent that the only artist behind it had to be Finnian.

"Really now, it's a _scare_crow," Sebastian chided to no one as he stared disapprovingly at the doll's painted face. "There's nothing scary about a smile." After a few more moments, another sigh escaped him and he turned away, refusing to let himself get aggravated about something so trivial. "Never mind it. It's time for Ciel's tea…"

Finny watched Sebastian walk away from his hiding spot behind a tall evergreen tea, his breath held and his heart pounding. When the butler left the area, the air leaked out from his lungs and he managed to calm down; he hadn't been yelled at. That was a good sign. From where he was standing, the boy could see Aldaric's bright smile, and Finny smiled too, giggling quietly under his breath. "... Viel Spaß, Aldaric, werden Sie es hier lieben!"

* * *

><p><strong>((Hey hey hey the German loosely means: "Have fun here, Aldaric, I'm sure you'll love it!"<strong>

**AKA I had no other way to end this piece of crap bye))**  
><strong>I literally wrote this at midnight last night so yeah man I know it sucks.<strong>  
><strong>But seriously omfg I was watching Courage the Cowardly Dog last night and the scarecrow episode is so cute and I love it.<strong>  
><strong>The scarecrow kind of reminds me of Finny so much omfg he's so sweet.<strong>  
><strong>Yup this is me.<strong>  
><strong>Getting all excited about a fictional scarecrow that happened to have the most soothing voice in the world and the most adorable intentions.<strong>  
><strong>Not really tbh I dunno what I'm doing.<strong>  
><strong>I'm not okay.<strong>  
><strong>BUT ONTO THE STORY.<strong>  
><strong>Finnian-centric. No pairings, no warnings, just Finny.<strong>  
><strong>Black Butler is my life.<strong>  
><strong>Sorry it's so short though ;m;<strong>  
><strong>I wanted to write more today but I missed 4 days of school so I haven't had much free time. I'll try to write more Finny things later in the week I promise~<strong>  
><strong>Anyway yeah Sebastian stop crushing Finny's dreams.<strong>  
><strong>Or whatever.<strong>  
><strong>I'm done.<strong>  
><strong>Bye.<strong>


End file.
